NHS Softball—

Nighthawks Overcome Tough Losses With 13 Runs

By Andy Hutchison

In their first two games, the Newtown High School softball team scored all of one run and, not surprisingly, came up short both times (a 2-0 loss at Lauralton Hall on April 2 and a 5-1 defeat to Bunnell on Monday). But early in the season there was no reason to push the panic button. Newtown Coach Bob Guererra knew the offense would come around sooner or later.

Fortunately for the Nighthawks, it was the former. Newtown blistered the ball to the tune of 13 runs in a 13-1 walloping of Pomperaug at home on Tuesday.

“It’s a guarded win. It’s definitely good to get a win — there’s no question,” Guererra said. “But we’re not out of the woods yet. We’ve got to build on it.”

The Hawks were scheduled to play New Milford on Wednesday before departing for a flight to Disney World (see related story). The players were happy to get at least one win under their belts before the trip.

“We definitely didn’t want to be 0-3 or 0-4,” first baseman/pitcher Kate Bowen said.

The Nighthawks made sure of that. Not only did Bowen, who pitched the second game of the season, strike out seven batters and hold down the Pomperaug offense — she went 4-for-4 at the plate with a pair of triples. Ashley Kuligowski walked three times and scored three runs, Stacey Broughton had a two-run double and Joanna Barry knocked in two runs.

“It feels good getting our swings going,” Bowen said. “I think we needed it. It was a tough loss to Lauralton Hall and it was a tough loss against Bunnell.”

Newtown, behind the strong pitching of Jenna LeGros (nine strike outs in that game) shut down Bunnell for six innings and carried a 1-0 edge into the seventh, but some fielding miscues and timely hits by Bunnell changed the face of that game in a hurry.

Tuesday’s game marked what the Nighthawks hope is a turnaround to their season.

“This was our breakout game,” Barry said. “We really needed to have an offensive day, an offensive explosion to put some confidence into the team.”

The Hawks, upon returning to Florida, will visit Joel Barlow on Wednesday and are scheduled to play their next home game Friday, April 18 against New Fairfield.